vho ballast

[Ross]

Hey guys
I am looking at lights for my 84g. It is 6ft long. I was looking at the coral life ballast. So here is my question. The ballast has a limit of 440watts or 16ft of bulbs. If i got 72in bulbs i could only have 2 because they are 160 and 3 would go over the limit. The 2 72in would only give me a total of 320watts. Or i could get 60in bulbs and have 6in of nonlit space on each end of the tank. If i got the 60in i could have 3 bulbs because they are 140watts each. This would give me a total of 420 watts. What do you guys think i should do.

I am only 15 and i can't really afford alot of stuff right now. I will probably upgrade my lights later down the road when i can get a job. Right now i just want to be able to swap frags with you guys. Hopefully i can talk my parents into letting me get the lights.

[Ross]

Thanks Joshua
I just checked out the icecap 660. I have heard that it is the best. So icecap will fix it one time if it fries from running too many watts? I'm not really sure if i want to run more watts than recomended but if it worked for you i guess it will be ok. How long did you run the 3 lamps on the icecap?

[Tim Marvin]

I would get two 660's and stay under the wattage. Then you could run 4 bulbs.

[sareef]

I have a 180g reef tank and use vho to light it. The Icecap 440 will run 4 - 2' bulbs. The 660 will run 4 - 4' bulbs. The bulb wiring diagrams are included with the ballast when you buy them. Basically, you can run any combination of 8' of lighting with the 440 and 16' of lighting with the 660. The 660 is only about $20 more than the 440. I believe they sell an upgrade kit to convert the 440 to a 660. If you can get your hands on this kit you can run 4 - 4' bulbs staggered from side to side in your canopy to provide maximum coverage. Let me know if you have any questions.

Will

[Ross]

Would it be better as far as keeping corals to have 4-4ft bulbs instead of 3 6ft bulbs.

[sareef]

If you run 4 - 4' bulbs with the Icecap 660 you will have 440 watts of light for your tank. As far as the 3 - 6' bulbs, you would have 480 watts but would exceed the output for the ballast. I'm not sure if this would mean each bulb provides less that full output or not. Ultimately, watts per gallon is what you are shooting for.

Will

[Ross]

What corals could i keep under 480watts. Could i keep xenia. Also what kind of bulbs should i get.

[Ross]

Did you buy 1 set of dual end caps and 1 set of single end caps?

[Brett Wilson]

If watts per gallon is a good measure for lighting, I guess I'm insane for 2x400w (halide) over my 40G breeder. The SPS sure love it though :)

The issue with running 4 foot bulbs on a 6 foot tank, even if you stagger them, is that it will be little more dim on the ends. Not too bad though... Do they make 5-6' T5's?

[Brett Wilson]

As far as bulbs, I like the phillips daylight deluxe. You can get these at home depot for $6-8 for TWO. They last a long time and provide a nice white light (6500K). HD only carries them in 4' length.

[TexasState]

You could stagger four 48 inches bulb on a 125 and grow soft/LPS coral on it. So two daylight/two actinic. I saw a tank setup this way and it still looks pretty good. I do recommend that you should use two Ballasts so you can control your actinic separately from the daylight.

[TexasState]

If you take a look at the web link in my signature, I do have an Icecap 660 for sale.

[Ross]

I would be interested in this. How old is it and why are you selling it? How many pairs of endcaps do you have? Will you be at the meeting tomorow?